Rescue crews find 'unresponsive' body of missing 25-year-old diver near Port Gamble

SEATTLE — A Kitsap County rescue team on Monday night found the "unresponsive" body of a missing diver in water near Port Gamble after more than a five-hour search, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard, Kitsap County sheriff's personnel and private citizens had been involved in the search.

The sheriff's office said the initial call came in at about 5:30 p.m. of a 25-year-old male diver who had failed to surface.

Sheriff's spokesman Ken Dickenson said the missing diver was one of three who were contracted in a commercial operation to conduct some sort of environmental-type work by the old mill in Port Gamble.

Only two divers came up and the third didn't, Dickenson said. The two went back down to try to locate the third diver, but they couldn't find him and contacted authorities, he said.

The missing diver was wearing a black wetsuit and rebreather, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard sent an aircrew from Air Station Port Angeles and a boat crew from Station Seattle and diverted the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Sea Lion, which was already underway in the area.